Ruth. "But there, Daddy has lighted the fire, and we can soon
begin to roast the marshmallows."

On the beach, near Russ and Rose, where they were standing with their
father and Cousin Tom, a cheerful blaze sprang up. It looked very pretty
in the moonlight night, with the sparkling sea out beyond.

"Can we roast 'em now?" asked Laddie, as he got ready one of the long,
pointed sticks.

"Not quite yet," said his father. "Better to wait until the fire makes a
lot of red-hot coals, or embers of wood. Then we can hold our candies
over them and they will not get burned or blackened by the blaze. Wait a
bit."

So they sat about the fire, while Daddy Bunker and Cousin Tom piled on
more wood. The boxes of the candies had been opened, so they would be
all ready, and each of the ten Bunkers had a long, sharp-pointed stick
to use as a toasting-fork.

"I guess we are ready now," said Daddy Bunker, after they had listened
to a jolly song sung by another party of marshmallow roasters farther
down the beach. "There are plenty of hot embers now."

Cousin Tom poked aside the blazing pieces of driftwood and underneath
were the hot, glowing embers.

"Now each one put a candy on a stick and hold the marshmallow over the
embers," said Daddy Bunker. "Don't hold it still, but turn it around.
This is just the same as shaking corn when you pop it, or turning bread
over when you toast it. By turning the marshmallow it will not burn so
quickly."

So, kneeling in a circle about the fire, the six little Bunkers, and the
others, began to roast the candies. But Margy and Mun Bun did not have
very good luck. They forgot to turn their marshmallows and they held
them so close to the fire that they had accidents.

"Oh, Mun Bun's candy is burning!" cried Rose.

"And Margy's is on fire, too!" added Russ.

"Oh, that's too bad!" cried Mother Bunker. "Never mind," she said, as
she saw that the two little tots felt sorry. "I'll toast your candies
for you. It's rather hard for you to do it."

Mrs. Bunker's own candy was toasted a nice brown and all puffed up, for
this is what happens when you toast marshmallows. So she gave Mun Bun
and Margy some of hers, and then began to brown more.

The other children did very well, and soon they were all eating the
toasted candies. Now and then one would catch fire, for sugar, you know,
burns faster than wood or coal. But it was easy to blow out the flaming
candies, and, if they were not too badly burned, the